UTAH COUNTY UPDATE: There’s a whole lot of new in Orem

Dave Young 

What is new in Orem? Quite a bit. A new mayor and city council were elected last fall — and our first seven weeks have been very busy.

I ran for mayor on the promise that I would listen to our citizens, and I would use my best judgment to lead Orem into the future. I believe that making the right decisions now is critical and will determine the environment in which our future generations live.

Our commitment is to put in place policies that guarantee the residents will always be heard and have a strong voice in the future of their community. Our overriding goal is to ensure that the people of Orem, the city council and Orem city management are aligned regarding the vision for our future.

We will keep our focus on continuing to attract and support businesses of all types. At the same time, we have a vision that prioritizes family values and neighborhoods. In addition, our vision includes a continued focus on recreation, the arts and involvement in the future of our children’s education.

First Seven Weeks

As your legislative body, we hired our own legal counsel to perform research and provide legal advice on the legislative issues and projects that we are working on.

Next, we changed the selection process for the Planning Commission so that a much broader base of applicants could be appointed to that service opportunity. We made changes to the commission to guarantee that our efforts to implement a positive solution to the State Street Moratorium would not be derailed.

Replaced the State Street Master Plan

The current plan called for 9,400 apartments and 20,000 to 30,000 people on State Street in Orem in the coming years. With Orem already at 43 rentals rentals and traffic increasing significantly, many residents have been very concerned about what Orem’s future would look like.

On Feb. 22, myself and our city council passed measures repealing the State Street Plan and changing zoning back to allow only service, retail and office commercial projects on State Street. The beautification aspects of the original plan were left in place. These business-friendly changes required a significant effort by the new city council and city management working together in order to make it happen.

New City Building

One of our priorities is to create an environment that allows all city employees to be the best at what they do and provide excellent service to the public. As such, we are working towards building a new city building to help facilitate that and solve a host of other concerns. We are committed to this important project and are working with city management to ensure this can be done without burdening the taxpayers.

New Transparency Portal

I believe that transparency is critical to a high-functioning government. As such we have directed the city to launch the Orem Transparency Portal. This is a one-stop shop for residents to see what their city and elected officials are doing. The portal includes elected officials’ voting records, all financial documents, access to city studies on important issues, recordings of official meetings and so much more. We see this new resource as a promising way to promote responsibility, retain accountability and preserve the public’s trust in the city.

New School District Exploration

The city council recently voted 7-0 to approve a feasibility study to determine whether or not it makes sense to form an Orem School District. The first step is to complete the study. The second step is for the city council to evaluate the results of the study. If the results are positive, then the citizens will have an opportunity to vote on the November ballot and decide if this is something they want to approve. This has been talked about for years but this is the first time a city council has approved an independent study to evaluate the issue and potentially move it to a vote of the people.

Orem is a Great Place to Live, Work and Play

Orem was named No. 1 top-performing city in the nation by the Milken Institute for job creation, wage gains and high-tech GDP growth. The study also considered the city’s ability to weather economic storms and leverage assets effectively and Orem was seen as a leader in promoting sustainable growth and prosperity. Orem continues to be a great place to do business.

Orem was named No. 2 safest city in the nation by the safety and security firm SafeWise. The Orem-Provo area sees only 0.9 violent crimes incidents per 1,000 residents, which is the lowest of any metro area nationwide. The property crime rate is also incredibly low at 12.78 per 1,000 residents. The Orem City Council continues to focus on ways to keep Orem safe, including new programs to help recruit and retain police officers.

New Parks

Orem water tank and Heritage Park project. This exciting project is unique because it will both honor Orem’s past while at the same time prepare for its future. We’re building a 10 million-gallon buried water tank in south central Orem to address critical water storage and system needs. These infrastructure improvements will help ensure the health and safety of the city’s water system for generations to come. After the tank is buried, we plan to build Heritage Park on top of it, which will celebrate and preserve Orem’s history.

Hillcrest Park. This new park will preserve a portion of Hillcrest Elementary to serve as a mini recreation and community center in southwest Orem. The park will feature 16 new pickleball courts. There will be playgrounds designed for both pre-school and school-aged children as well as the city’s second splash pad. The park will be a beautiful addition to the city and a great resource for Orem families.

Scera Park North playground. Scera Park is getting a new playground that will be unlike any other. This playground is inspired by one of the greatest artists to ever come out of Orem, the late James Christensen. The city is working closely with his family to add wonderful, fantastical elements from his artwork to the playground.

Dave Young is mayor of Orem and a lifelong entrepreneur who founded several companies, including Paragon Wealth Management. He and his family founded Live Your Dream Foundation, which provides scholarships for single mothers. He is also on advisory boards for Utah Valley University and Thanksgiving Point. He and his wife Cathy are longtime Orem residents and have five children and 10 grandchildren. Young is committed and invested in our community. He enjoys his work, fitness, adventure travel, the outdoors, and spending time with his family.